


Game of War

by joshmeatflint



Category: All Time Low, Dayshell (Band), Of Mice & Men (Band), Pierce the Veil, The Walking Dead (TV), You Me At Six
Genre: M/M, Post-Zombie Apocalypse, aarons literally way too nice for this world, austins a savage killing machine, but inside hes sweet dont worry, jack barakat tried to kill phil, josh and austin dont get along, phil is a little overprotective of tino, phil x tino is a friendly thing, ptv are nice dudes, soft hearted aaron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-07-27 07:33:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7609366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joshmeatflint/pseuds/joshmeatflint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>everytime when the wind blows, austin and his group of survivors know it's time that something was about to happen.</p>
<p>one of those somethings just happened to be the boy with the fiery, ginger red hair named alan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Legal House Robbing

Austin lied down in the backseat of his van.

He hated the fact that an apocalypse had to dawn on the earth. He hated the fact that _zombies_ killed his dad, the only family he had left. He hated everything about this but he just couldn't commit suicide.

He'd miss out on what the world will become after all this ends. Though there's a huge chance the world will never get better, he had a tiny spark of hope in him it will. Eitherways he also has a group of survivors to manage.

He's currently with three other guys. Two highschool best friend who are practically attached to each other Phil and Tino and another guy who's just a year younger than him named Aaron.

Aaron's the softest one out of all of them. He'd never even hurt a fly. He wasn't the type of softie who would be at the crying phase when they killed someone, he'd just feel really bad and couldn't sleep the whole night. They gave him a gun just in case, the kid would have to kill one of those things at least once.

Right now, Tino - the only one who could drive well was in the drivers seat and Phil was riding shotgun. Aaron was in the third row, lying down as well but not sleeping and Austin was just trying to clear up his mind for a while.

It's been a little over a months since the outbreak. Austin's dad went out to try and find out what's going on, but after that he never came back hone and Austin never saw him again.

He came out of the house on the third day he didn't come back.

He was 21 and old enough to drive and own a car. He took some food, most of what could last for a long period. He grabbed as many plastic water bottles as he can, spare clothes and a backpack. He picked the lock of his dads closet to find a not-so-wide variety of guns and ammo. At least it was enough to keep him alive from what was out there. He drove off as soon as he could, half of his aim was to find his dad, and the other was to get out of here.

He came across Tino and Phil on the roadside of the I-95 highway to New York. He was heading there with hope that there was a safe haves somewhere there, but much to his dismay, there wasn't. So on his way back, he sees the two running away from 2 zombies.

Saying zombies sounded so unrealistic, Austin decides he'd name them walkers. That was the first thing that came in his mind, so why not?

He shot the two walkers down and offers them to join him. The two agree, so now he has his own little group. They were headed to Manhattan after hearing there was another safe haven, but it was fake like the New York one.

One after another, they obliged to whatever the radio said, but each one that they turn up at, turns out to be fake.

After a week of looking in the wrong places, they give up and just focus on surviving. Austin's will to find his dad had been long gone, but that doesn't mean he didn't want to find him, it just meant he didn't put that as a priority.

Aaron was a kid they met a little while after Tino and Phil. Poor kid was stuck in his house with the fear of exiting. He saw a walker for the first time when his mom went out to kill it. It resulted in her getting bitten, leaving Aaron all alone in the house.

The four of them formed their own band of survivors. Now the world was far past the gone, and there was nothing left but empty houses, empty streets, and fear.

Fear was something you had to feel in these circumstances. You cant not be afraid when the whole world is literally rotting in time around you. It's basically impossible to avoid fear nowadays.

Austin has to admit that most of the time he tries to act brave for the sake of his friends, inside he's scared. He's so scared he feels like he's going to pass out, but he doesn't. He fights it because he knows that there is always hope. There is always hope that his dad is alive somewhere out there. There is hope that one day the world will be back to normal. There is hope for everything, and Austin strongly believes in that.

That's what keeps him going.

He's able to sleep after what felt like hours. He closes his eyes, ceases his movements and tries to rest. It doesn't last for long, as he hears the soft whistle of the wind blowing outside. He jolts awake.

Everytime the wind around them starts to blow softly like right now, something will happen. Anything, whether it was good or bad. It was like God was showing a sign.

As far as they've experienced, the event will happen in a matter of days, hours or even minutes. It can even happen right after the wind stops. It can be good, it can be bad, sometimes it'd even be just a simple walker. At least it told them something was happening. It was something stupid honestly; to depend on the wind.

But that was the only thing they've had.

~

Austin presses a finger to his lips and furrows his eyebrows, silencing Phil and Tino. The two were bickering about something stupid. They left Aaron in the car since he wouldn't grow some balls and shoot a gun for once.

Austin kicks the door in, revealing the living room of a house. There was blood smeared on the walls and there was a dried pool of blood on the carpet.

Someone must've died here.

Phil grimaces at the place. It was like looking at something rotting right before your eyes. The stinging scent of food past it's expiry date also filled their lungs. Tino coughs a little.

"We're going to check if the place is clear first alright? And then were going to grab a few things, then leave."

The two friends nodded at their leader. Austin gets his gun out and aims it at the doorway.

Tino lowers his gun and relaxes a little, "If that loud bang didn't attract them, then there might as well be none of them."

"Give it a little more time," Phil says.

They wait for another minute, and nothing comes out. Austin announces that the house was empty and they could start gathering a few things.

They had separate jobs to do. Austin handles the food, Phil the clothes and Tino the weapons and ammunition. Phil runs up the stairs and into one of the rooms. All the doors were open, which was odd, but that just made things easier for him. He enters a room that resembled a bedroom. There was a single bed with small tables on each side of it, a dresser with a mirror. It had no blood in it, which was a good sign. Phil was still looking around when something caught his eye.

Bingo.

He walks towards the wardrobe and opens one of its doors. He lifts his gun, waiting for a walker to come out, but there wasn't one. It was clear.

He flings the next door open and starts rummaging through it. He retrieves two pairs of denim blue jeans, a white sleeveless top and a black graphic t-shirt. Those were the only things left that he assumed could fit them and they were also blood-free, so why not? He stuffs them into the empty duffle bag he had and moved on to the next room.

Austin felt like he was in heaven.

The kitchen was stocked with a bunch of food (excluding the ones rotting on the table). Most of what was canned and could last for a long ass time. He took 4 cans of spaghetti rings, another 4 cans of baked beans and 2 cans of tuna.

"Dude, this is sick!" He called out to Tino and Phil.

"I got some sick shit too! This house is loaded!" Tino calls back.

Phil appears behind Austin, holding up what he got, "I got some...not-so-sick shit."

"The graphic tee looks pretty rad man," Austin comments.

Phil takes a look at it, "Hm. On second though, I got one thing that's great. Tino, what you got?"

Tino runs into the living room grinning like a madman. He opens his bag revealing a ton of gun ammunition, some throwing knives and some new guns.

"This is like, the best stash of supplies we've ever come across," Tino says.

Austin smiles, "No shit."


	2. Collision and Midnight Jamming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay so this will be set in like 2011 so of mice is gonna be a little younger.
> 
> P.S Shay's in this because I just really love Shay ok.

Alan walks through the uneven ground of the forest away from the main road. He hears his little sister Adina and his best friend Shayley behind him along with their ginger Shiba Inu, Hachi. Apparently the Mayan's predicted the world would end a year too far, since a zombie apocalypse had dawned on the world in 2011.

Alan has no idea why their mom brought home a dog one day. He has no idea how the hell she got his dad to ship it from Japan all the way here. He also has no clue why the hell Addie named him after the same type of dog in that one movie. They never talked about it though, they just carried on as if Hachi had been there all their lives.

But none of that mattered anymore seeing as that the world was now overrun with zombies. They had little to no food, no vehicles, no shelter. They managed to successfully rob a gun store though, God knows how. It was probably out of luck that the shop owner was a coward.

Alan wonders how that redneck didn't even try and get a gun to shoot them.

They had plenty of water, which was good. Humans could still survive with only water and no food. So do dogs, well, somehow at least. They'd take cover in an abandoned car or some building that was zombie-free every time they were tired or night time was about to arrive. It was pretty hard for them to survive since their supplies were limited, but they had to try and pull through this mess the world has become of. Alan hoped they'd come across another group. Maybe they could join that group and they'd have a bigger chance of surviving. If the group was nice enough at least.

Suddenly they heard the distant groan of a zombie. The three stopped dead in their tracks and they each pulled out their own weapons. They had their backs against each other, eyes darting around for any sign of the zombie. If he weren't to lie, Alan would say he was afraid. Even the faintest sound of them would make his heart race a million times faster and give him really bad chills down his spine. He tried to act brave for the sake of Adina, if she saw that her older brother was afraid, she'd feel defenseless and that was one thing you cannot feel in times like this.

And then Alan saw it. Among the bushes, it was camouflaged, but the darker green tint compared to the leaves of its shirt told Alan it was not part of the bushes. But it was not alone. As Alan focused more he saw that behind that one zombie were a dozen more. Maybe even more than a dozen. He decides that they couldn't fight that many off, so he muttered a soft 'fuck' under his breath and then hurriedly told Addie and Shay to run back to the main road. Hachi quickly ran along with them, making sure to always be beside Alan. The fairly large dog had gotten quite attached to the ginger haired kid, and that resulted in Hachi following him everywhere.

They were getting closer to the road as Shay, who was ahead of everyone else due to the fact that he ran the fastest, could already see the concrete fences on the side of the highway. When he got there, he places his hand on the fence and jumps over it, luckily not falling. He turns around to help the rest over the fence when a van pulls over by them.

The door opens to reveal a skinny, tall guy with brown hair, brown eyes to match his hair colour. He tells them to get in (in a non kidnapper-ish way) and Shay's already bolting in. The stranger doesn't need to help Adina up into the van as she insisted she could do it. Alan gets in with ease as Hachi jumps in right after him, then whoever was driving started to speed off just as the first zombie peeked its head out.

"How many?" The driver asks.

"3, and a dog," Says the man who helped them in, "We got exactly enough room."

"You guys alright?" Someone in the front asks.

"We're good." Shay replies.

Addie suddenly snaps her head towards the guy on the passengers seat. "Wait, Phil?"

'Phil' was equally as shocked when he looked back, "Holy shit, Adina?"

"You two know each other?" The guy with the brown hair asks.

"I met her online. I mentioned the wrong person on Twitter, and it just sort of escalated after that."

"I didn't know you had Twitter?" The driver questions.

Afterwards, they got to know each other. The tall, lanky guy's name was Austin, the sort of leader of the group. The guy who was driving was named Valentino, but you could call him Tino. Tino was the only decent driver in the group, which is why almost half of the time was him who drove. He went to the same high school as Phil and they became close friends in Phil's second year. Another guy at the back was Aaron. He didn't do much, but his instincts have helped them survive. He was a good company too, he was humorous and witty but he also knew when to be serious.

That night, Austin drove. Shay and Aaron had ended up unintentionally cuddling in the back, Addie and Phil fell asleep on each other and Tino was sleeping with his head against the window. He and Alan were the only ones awake, so he decided to strike up a conversation.

"How old are you?"

Alan's eyes widened, "What?"

"Shit. Sorry. I didn't mean it in that way, I swear! I was just curious, since you seem pretty young to be friends with Shay who's...24?"

Alan realizes what he's trying to say (among all his blabbering) and laughs, "Oh, yeah I got it. I'm 20, even though people think I'm like, fucking 15 years old or something. Shay and I met in a Slipknot concert when I was 18. I don't remember how it happened, but we became friends afterwards."

"Dude, you like Slipknot?" Austin asks, a little too loud.

Alan shushes him, "Keep your voice down. And yes, I do. I love Slipknot, actually."

"I knew there would be a use to all these Slipknot albums I have."

And Alan could practically hear the smile in his voice as he watches Austin insert the disc into the disc slot. They spend the rest of the night up to 3am (Tino is awoken from the loud noises and offers to drive) jamming out to all their favourite songs.

That was one of the best nights Alan's ever had after this damned apocalypse happened.


	3. Deserted Traffic Jams

Alan is awoken by the loud and obnoxious Austin Carlile and his own dog licking his face.

In his half- awake, half-asleep state, he could hear Tino yelling at him in the distance, "God Aust! Lower your voice down, you'll attract a damn walker!"

"Says the guy who's literally yelling at me." He mutters.

Alan laughs at the both of them, they could be such children sometimes. When Alan is fully awake 20 minutes later, he looks around to see that they've arrived in the remains of a traffic jam. A bunch of cars were blocking the road, all empty and covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt.

"Addie, what are we doing here?" He asks groggily.

"The van couldn't get through, so we're going to turn around and take another road. Tino, Phil and Aaron are out for supplies, Austin and Shay...well..." She points towards where the two were fucking around with the water gallons in a truck while also giving Hachi a bath.

The gallons were put sideways in their slots so if you opened the cap, then water will come flowing out. They did just that and literally drank the water from the stream pouring out. Hachi was running around at their feet, getting himself wet.

"Shay's literally just a 5 year old sometimes, isn't he?" Addie murmurs.

Alan hums in response, "When he was younger, he never really got to be a kid."

"How'd you know? He's like, 4 years older than you."

Alan sighs, he doesn't know whether she'd understand yet, "I'll tell you when the time comes."

He tells Addie to stay in the car while he goes off to join the rest and do something for once.

Alan goes over to a red sedan car, he peers into the backseat window to see that it was clear. He looks in the front, and he sees one of the undead still in the drivers seat, seatbelt holding it down. It took notice of Alan and started to uselessly try and get him. Alan ignores it.

The worst part about scavenging a car was the trunk. You never know what was in there, it could be a squirrel with rabies, or just another walker.

Alan draws his gun out and turns the safety off, and aims it at the trunk. Cautiously, he tries to open it. When he realizes its locked, he shoots the lock without hesitation.

The trunk lid opens, and there's no walker in it. Alan puts the safety back on and puts his gun back. There's two buckets of white paint, a tool box and a cardboard box filled with some clothes.

Alan heard the groan of a walker. He ignores it for now thinking that it was just his imagination. Even if it was real, it would've been still far away. When he hears it for the second time, he literally jumps because its louder than the last one. He climbs the sedan up to its roof and turns around. Even though the blazing sunlight that was practically melting the asphalt that formed the roads made it hard to see, he could make out one- no, thousands of walkers coming their way.

"Shit," He says to himself and quickly clambers off of the car.

He runs as fast as he can to where Austin and Shay were, "We gotta go. We gotta go, we gotta go Aust. We have to go, now!"

Shay gives him a confused look, "What's wrong?"

And Alan can't even say it so he just points to where the swarm was coming from. Austin does exactly what he did before; he climbs up onto the top of a car and looks towards the direction Alan pointed in.

Austin's eyes widened. He jumps off of the car with ease and drags Shay and Alan with him. Hachi isn't far behind Alan, running after the three.

"What about Tino and Phil? And Aaron?" Shay asks once they get back to the van.

"I'll good get them, just stay in there, shut the door and don't make any noise," And with that, Austin shuts the door and runs off.

Alan quickly moves over to the front seats. He looks out the windshield just in time to see Austin disappearing between the huge mass of cars.

"Is Addie back there?" Alan calls.

"I'm here!" Addie replies.

Alan sighs in relief. He turns around to lock the door and then head towards the back lounge.

There were 4 sections of the van, enough sections to actually call it a bus, but Austin insisted it was a van. The first section, the driver and the passenger. They nicknamed it he control room since that's where they control where they go and what music should play.

Section two was the front lounge. There were three seaters on each side, both ended with a counter next to it. It also came with a fridge, a sink and cabinets. The cabinets were lined up on top of where the kitchen counters were. The sink was next to the counters and then the fridge was parallel to it.

The third section were the sleeping quarters. There were bunk beds on each side, they had 8 in total. There wasn't much to do here, except for sleeping. Some of them usually slept in the front lounge's couches, or stayed up all night in the back lounge, or was driving anyway, so section three was rarely used.

Speaking of the back lounge, that was section four. Where all their happy places were. That room was probably the only room that was private in this whole van. The control room? There was only a curtain separating it from the front lounge. The sleeping quarters would always have at least someone chilling out in their bunk.

The back lounge's door could be locked as well. Even though everything was automatic in there ans you would only have to press a button to get it working, locks still existed.

Alan hears rapid banging on the door, "Open the door, open the door, open the door!"

"Alan, quick! Open the door for them, the walkers are getting closer!" He hears Shay yell from the back.

Alan runs as fast as he can to the front of the van. He unlocks the door and the door swings open wildly. Austin runs in, followed by Phil, then Tino, then Aaron.

Alan slams the door shut again and locks it. He shuts all the windows and tries to make the minimal amount of noise he can. He and Phil occasionally peeks out the window to see if the swarm has passed through. It's been at least 15 minutes, and they can barely see the end of it.

They're both sick of looking out, then hiding back inside again, so they completely give up and just wait until the footsteps and groans pass.

Alan accidentally falls asleep on the floor.


	4. Late Night Deep Talk

Alan wakes up the next morning on the couch in the front lounge.

There's a soft, though rather thin blanket draped over him and a pillow under his head. And not to mention, Hachi's sleeping on his stomach.

He sits up when he realizes his surroundings were dark. Hachi gets off him and goes back to sleep on the other couch. The only thing lighting the room up was the lights from the control panel of the van in the front. He takes a look around the seat corner to discover that it was - amusingly - Austin again who was driving.

He breathes out as he sits up and rubs his eyes. Alan gets up and takes the empty passenger's seat.

It was like it was destined that everytime Austin drove, that seat would be vacant just so Alan could be beside him.

"Hey," Alan says, sitting down on the passengers seat.

"Hey," Austin responds, "Sleep well?"

"Definitely. How are you?"

He shrugs, "Been better, but I can't complain."

"You and Shay get along pretty well."

"Yeah, sort of..."

Alan turns to look at him, exaggerating his shock, "What do you mean 'sort of'? You two practically looked like kids who were best friends while playing around with that water."

Austin laughs, "Shay's just a 5 year old in the inside, honestly."

Alan's smile drops a little, "Everyone says that...but in reality, it was like he never had a childhood."

Alan could see Austin in the corner of his eye, tilting his head to the side, "What happened?"

"One night, while I was over at Shay's place, I caught him smoking cigarettes. I never realized how much of a big deal it would be to me until when we went to sleep, he fell off his bed and started screaming and crying, fucking kicking at the air."

"His parents?"

"Away. Business trip, that's why I could stay overnight."

"Oh, go on."

Alan takes a deep breath and continues, "He was screaming the words 'no' and 'stop' over and over again. I didn't know what to do, so I did the first thing that came in mind. I got down on the floor next to him and started to try and shake him awake. When he did, I guess he was confused, or something. I don't know, but then he just sort of had a breakdown and just lied there crying on the floor. All I could do was just sit there and stare, because I was such an idiot back then."

Alan stops, he takes a look at Austin for confirmation that he wants to her the rest of it. Austin looks at him, nods, and looks at the road again.

"When he stopped, I asked what was wrong. I guess the effect of the cigarettes were still there because I don't think he'd tell me this. He told me that when he was 16, his dad took him away from his mom. They went to a motel, and his dad started abusing him. And it just made me so fucking sad, I mean, no 16 year old has to go through that, Aust. Never in their lives."

Austin noticed that he was on the verge of tears now, so he pulled the van over and wrapped his arms around the younger boy. Alan hugs back and buries his face in Austin's shoulder, soaking his shirt with his tears.

"God, I just couldn't stand seeing him so sad," Alan sobs, "He used to be this carefree, fun guy I met at a concert and yet his background is just _this_ huge mess. I can't, I don't want to imagine what it was like, being him as a kid. It must've been so hard, so heartbreaking."

Then Alan just completely breaks in front of Austin. He tightens his grip on the brown haired man and starts to shake uncontrollably. Austin whispers soft nothings into his ear, trying to calm Alan down.

When he does, Alan immediately falls asleep. Austin sets him back in his seat and goes back to driving.

The whole night, he's left with his mind replaying the words Alan has said over and over again. The kid hadn't known him for more than two days and he's sharing stories like this. Austin wonders if its just that Alan was unaware of the fact that Austin was still sort of a stranger, he was a person who adapted to change easily or it was just that Alan had already trusted him enough.

Austin would much prefer that last one.

He thinks back to Shay. He thinks back to when Alan said that Shay always looked happy on the outside. He thinks back to the fact that Shayley, a guy who seemed so happy and carefree, was abused by his own father at the age of 16. He could hardly believe it.

Shay didn't even seem like the type to get drunk. Nor smoke. Austin had previously assumed from his looks that he was probably still in highschool. Like that one good kid who got decent grades, a few close friends and never really got into trouble.

Apparently fucking not.

He looks over at the ginger haired kid sleeping next to him and smiles to himself. He doesn't even know why he was smiling, it was just that Alan made him happy. Someone who was a total stranger to him two days ago had the ability to make him smile.

Its amazing what two days with someone can change. It changed their whole bond, from total strangers, to now (in Austin's perspective), someone he could entrust his whole life with.

Maybe Austin was in love with him.

He sighs, and concentrates on driving. If Alan were to return the feelings, then they'd most likely date. If they dated, he'd value Alan more than the rest of the group, and that was unfair. He wanted it to be equal for all of them, and these feelings just weren't helping.

Austin hates falling in love, even if it meant falling in love with someone who was worth it.


	5. Confusion and Driver Additions

Shayley's stuck in utter confusion.

When he was younger, he swore to himself he'd find a lover who'd understand his past.

He's pretty sure the adorable brown haired kid named Aaron Pauley wouldn't understand what life was like for him in the past.

But Shay can't help falling for him.

He groans and slams his head backwards, hitting the sort of headboard of his bunk. It was late at night, Tino was driving and Phil was up front to keep him company. Everyone was asleep, except for him, and he's left with complete silence (except for Austin's snoring) and his thoughts.

Was it destiny that he just had to meet the first person in thousands who he fell in love with? Was destiny planning for Aaron to just somehow love him back?

If Shay thought about it, being in a relationship might even ruin the balance of this group. He didn't want that, everything was okay like this, and he didn't want it to change.

He just doesn't like change, at all. Its like, once something changes, it changes almost everything. One tiny chance can change the whole future. Like, if Austin hadn't made Tino pull over and save them, they might even be dead by now.

A few weeks ago, when all this started, he was just a scared little shit. He stayed in his house for days, it even felt like decades to him. He fed on anything he could find in his fridge.

When he finally ran out of food, it was like God sent a miracle or something; Alan came to get him just in time.

He still remembers Alan yelling at him outside his house to get in his car. He remembered Addie in the backseat looking just as scared as he was. He remembered looking at Alan and the loneliness he felt reflected when he looked at him.

And at that point of time, he knew the three of them were nothing but three things; shelterless, terrified and alone.

The car ran out of gas a week later. That's why when Austin found them, they were on foot. They got supplies from robbing mini marts and a gun store. The gun store was pretty effective, they got a lot from that place and it was fairly easy to do so.

Shay was scared half to death when he heard a loud bark. He didn't fall out of his bunk, but he did hit his head on the top platform. He looked down to see that it was just Hachi. He mentally sighed in relief. He peeked his head out and took a look at the huge ass digital clock in the control room

02:23AM.

He's gotta help Tino somehow.

When he gets off of his bed, Hachi ran off back into the front lounge and slept on Addie, who was also in the front lounge.

"Hey Tino," He starts, "I can drive...if you want me to."

"What? Oh, yeah. Sure, thanks Shay."

Tino pulls the van over and thanks him again. Shay takes over, and he - astoundingly - drives pretty well despite almost failing his drivers test.

Phil realizes Tino's awake. He gets up, following his best friend to the bunk room. They were best friends, so it wasn't a surprise they'd be so attached to one another.

Shay sighs to himself when he realizes he doesn't anyone to keep him company. He does have Alan, but the kid was asleep right now.

He sort of wished Aaron was here.

~

This whole van loved dogs.

Except for Alan, he was more of a cat person.

In the midst of Shayley, Austin, Addie, Tino and Phil attacking Alan by saying dogs were better, Aaron walks in just in time to save everyone from the horribly bad dog joke Phil was going to say.

"Weyheyhey its Shay," Aaron grinned.

"Oh God," Shay laughs, "That was _so_ bad."

"What about the rest of us? Are we invisible or something?" Austin pouts.

"Nah man, Aaron's just in love with Shay," Alan teases.

Aaron blushes and says softly, "What? No."

And no one notices but Shay's smiling like crazy and blushing as well.

"You two are too cute, we should lock you guys in the back lounge together once," Addie smirks.

"The door's locked from the inside," Tino says.

Addie opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it again. The only thing that escapes her lips was a small 'shit' and a mildly embarassed-terrified look on her face.

"When do we get back on the road?" Phil asks.

"Whenever," Austin responds, "If you wanna go now, go ahead. But you're driving."

Phil brings his hand down on the couch, "I knew it."

Austin shrugs, "Always been that way man."

"I'll-"

Alan cuts her off, "Before you say that you're gonna drive, no. I'm your brother, and I'm older, _and_ I'm responsible for you."

She glares at him.

"But, since you are 17 and the world is fucked, you can drive."

And then the spark in her eyes is back, "Really?"

Austin gets up and ruffles her hair, "Yeah, just don't kill us, okay kiddo?"

"Shay, can you teach me?" Addie asks.

"I'm a shit driver," He states.

"I know."

"Okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry this was such a shit chapter like shay is a shit driver but i just didnt know what to write.
> 
> the next chapter will have more action i swear.


	6. Campsites and Lakes

All of this was slowly killing Austin.

He hated this world now, to be honest. Everything was confusing him, his mind was confusing him, the walkers were confusing him, and most of all his feelings towards Alan was confusing him.

Who wouldn't have a crush on him?

He hated falling in love more than anything else in the world. It was basically valuing someone more than others and he hated doing that.

"Where do we tie this?" Tino asks him.

"Around the trees, like this," Austin demonstrated, "Then hang like things that'll make noise when it moves."

"Like what?"

"I don't know...pans?"

"We don't have pans."

I sigh, "Empty cans."

When Tino walks away, Austin continues setting up the wood for fire. He was failing though, since for the past 5 minutes, no flame has appeared.

He heads to the van to get a lighter or a matchstick from the kitchen drawer. Once he's got it, he came back out to see that the fire has already been lit.

"What?"

"What, what?" Alan asks.

"Did you light that?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Oh," He said, "Thanks."

That kid was everywhere.

~

"Go to sleep" He ordered.

"I'm not tired," Alan whined.

"Fine," Austin huffed, "Follow me."

"Where?"

"Just shut up, Alan,"

Austin heard him mutter something under his breath and then get up and follows him out of camp. Austin had seen a lake somewhere around here earlier and he wanted to take Alan there.

Alan catches up to him, "Where are we going?"

"I found a lake here earlier."

"Why are we going there?"

Austin stays silent. When they reached the lake, Alan asks him why they were here again. He turned to Alan and said, "Because...I like you."

"Aust?"

"Yeah?"

Even though it's dark, Austin can see Alan almost clearly as a smile creeped onto his face, "I like you too."

Austin tilts his head to the side, "Really?"

"Well yeah, I mean, why would I lie?"

Austin shrugs, "Sometimes Tino's a dick and he makes people do that by playing truth or dare. Like that one time he actually made Phil tell me he liked me. Thank God I didn't like the little shit back."

"Oh wow."

"Yeah."

The two were silent for a while. Austin went to sit by the lake and Alan follows him. There was an awkward silence between them for a while, when Austin decides to speak up.

"Hey wanna date?" Austin offers.

Alan laughs, "Sure."

~

'So you guys are _dating_?" Tino asks.

"For the thousandth time, Tino. Yes they are," Phil rolls his eyes.

Austin just shakes his head at the oldest, yet most immature member of the group. Shay sits beside him awkwardly, half dying to get the fact that he has a crush on Aaron out but also half dying to not let anyone know at all.

Shay ends up in the back lounge with Aaron himself.

"You look nervous," He acknowledges.

Shay runs a hand through his hair, "As a matter of fact, I am."

"Oh, why?"

"It's difficult knowing that two people in this RV are dating, but you cant even tell your crush you're in love with them."

"Funny how I'm going through the same thing."

Shay turns to took at him, "Really?"

Aaron hums as if to say yes, "Hey, let's be teenage girls and trade secrets."

Shay almost falls off the couch laughing, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah I'm serious!"

"Okay, okay," Shay manages to calm himself down and stop laughing, "What do you wanna start with?"

Aaron smiles like he's planning something really evil, "Your crush. If you tell yours I'll tell mine."

And in his mind, Shay's literally going like _oh shit!_ and he's stressing out over it so he squeaks out a little, soft 'you'.

Aaron hears it though, "Oh, sweet. Guess what, thank God you're my type."

Shay's confused now, "What was that supposed to mean?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, "It means I like you too, you dork."

"You're kidding right?"

Aaron shakes his head, "I'll never lie about something like that."

The only thing he left out was the reason why he'd never do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes, sorry this was a short one :/


End file.
